Four seas (the Black Sea, Marmara Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean)
surround the Turkish landscape, and residents of the coastal cities
are experts in preparing their fish. However, the best of the
day's catch is also immediately trans ported to Ankara, where
some of the finest fish restaurants are located. Winter is the
premium season for eating fish. That is the time when many species
of fish migrate from the Black Sea to the warmer waters and when
most fish reach their mature sizes. So, the lack of summer vegetables
is compensated by the abundance of fish at this time. Every month
has its own preferred fish along, with certain vegetables which
complement the taste. For example, the best bonito is eaten with
arugula and red onions, blue fish with lettuce, turbot with cos
lettuce. Large bonito may be poached with celery root. Mackerel
is stuffed with chopped onion before grilling, and summer fish,
which are younger and drier, will be poached with tomatoes and
green peppers, or fried. Bay leaves always accompany both poached
and grilled fish.
Grilling fish over charcoal, where the fish juices hit the embers and envelope the fish with the smoke, is perhaps the most delicious way of eating mature fish, since this method brings out the delicate flavour. This is also why the grilled fish and bread sold by vendors right on their boats are so tasty.
"Hamsi" is the
prince of all fish known to Turks. The Black Sea people know forty
one ways of making hamsi, including hamsi borek, hamsi pilaf and
hamsi dessert!
Another common seafood is the mussel- eaten deep fried, poached, or as a mussel dolma and mussel pilaf. Along the Aegean, octopus and calamary are added to the mete spread.
The places to taste fish are fish restaurants and taverns. Not all taverns are fish restaurants, but most fish restaurants are taverns and these are usually found on the harbours overlooking the sea. The Bosphorus is famous for its fisherman's taverns, large and small, from Rumeli Kavagi to Kumkapi. The modest ones are small with wooden tables and rickety wooden chairs, nevertheless they offer delicious grilled fish. Then there are elaborate, fashionable ones in Tarabya and Bebek. The fish restaurants have always an open-air section taking up space right by the sea; the waiters run back and forth between the kitchen, perhaps located within the restaurant across the street, and the tables on the seaside. After being seated, it is customary to visit the kitchen or the display to pick your fish and discuss the way you want it to be prepared. The price of the fish is also disclosed at this time. Then you swing by the mete display and order the ones you want. So the evening begins, sipping raki in between samplings of mete, watching the sunset, and slowly setting the pace for conversation that will continue hours into the night. Drinking is never a hurried, loud, boisterous, or a lonely affair. It is a communal, gently festive and cultured way of entertainment. In these fish restaurants, a couple of families may spend an evening with their children running around the restaurant after they are fed, while the teenagers sit at the table patiently listening to the conversation and occasionally participating, when the topic is soccer or rock music.
